HMS Stoic (P231): The Only Ship to Bear Her Name

Birkenhead-Built

HMS Stoic was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, ordered on 3 August 1941, laid down on 18 June 1942, launched on 9 April 1943 and commissioned on 29 June 1943 after speed trials on the Arran measured mile, under the command of Lieutenant Peter Barnsley Marriott and, from June 1945, Lieutenant James Newenham Elliott.

Seven Patrols Across Two Theatres

Stoic's seven war patrols carried her from a first foray into northern Norwegian waters in September and October 1943 to a demanding run of Far East operations through 1944, including three patrols in the Malacca Strait between March and June, a patrol off Penang in July and August, a Java Sea patrol in October and November, and a final patrol in the Sunda Strait spanning December 1944 into January 1945.

Sinking the Kainan Maru

Among her successes, Stoic sank the Japanese transport ship Kainan Maru, the auxiliary gunboat Shoei Maru, the fishing vessel Nanyo Maru No.55, a landing craft, a coaster and six small sailing vessels, while also carrying out shore bombardments against warehouses and fuel tanks at Jangka Island, a remarkably varied record of anti-shipping and coastal harassment work.

A Name Never Repeated

HMS Stoic survived the war and was sold for scrap in July 1950, broken up at Dalmuir. She remains, to this day, the only ship in the history of the Royal Navy to have carried the name Stoic, a small but distinctive footnote to a solid wartime record.